The debate over John Terry’s possible return to the England set-up has only just begun but it is up to the Chelsea captain to put forward a strong case for his inclusion on the pitch.

It is where the 32-year-old prefers to make his point, rather than inside a court room or facing a Football Association disciplinary panel at Wembley, as he experienced last year.

The revelation that he still longs to wear the England shirt has coincided with the climax of Chelsea’s season and a number of high-profile games that could help his cause.

Chelsea’s interim manager Rafael Benitez, who has needed some convincing over Terry’s fitness since he returned from the knee injury sustained in November, appears ready to help in his quest.

Benitez named the former England captain in the starting line-up against Swansea, which normally wouldn’t provoke such astonishment, but it was the first time he has picked him in successive games.

Terry has maintained throughout the past two months that he is in good enough condition to play more regularly than once a week and this was a strong indication that Benitez finally agrees with him.

Those that argue it is time for England to move on will look at the couple of moments when the Swansea players managed to skip past and head dangerously towards goal as evidence he should be ignored.

Yet significantly, Gary Cahill, who was making his first appearance following six weeks out with a knee problem of his own, was there to cover and spare Chelsea any blushes.

Cahill is, of course, still part of the England set-up but the 27-year-old has always looked most comfortable with Terry playing alongside him for club and country.

The duo form a good understanding as was shown for long periods against Swansea, for Terry’s organisational skills made up for the odd mistake he may have made.

Michael Laudrup’s side actually created few clear-cut chances and Benitez revealed he selected the pair to play together for good reason.

The Spaniard said: “Gary has pace and is good in the air so we wanted to press high and with John’s experience he can talk and can win the ball in the air also for us.”

The longer they play together, the more difficult it may be for England coach Roy Hodgson to ignore Terry.

It wasn’t for football reasons that his England career ended, he quit on the eve of the FA independent panel hearing last September into the charge that he racially abused Anton Ferdinand 11 months before.

Terry was upset that the FA were looking to punish him, which they eventually did with a four-game ban, despite the fact he was cleared of the offence in court.

Despite the reports suggesting Terry will only come back in an emergency, the defender has a final swan song at the World Cup in Brazil next summer firmly in his sights.

The centre-half is hoping Hodgson will disregard the critics to select him just as he did for the European Championship last summer. On the surface, Chelsea may not welcome this added distraction at such a crucial time.

Indeed, questions to Benitez on the matter were given short shrift following the 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge yesterday.

But a motivated Terry is always a difficult opponent, as he has shown when playing in games where the spotlight was firmly upon him, and that can only help the club fulfil their targets over the next three weeks.

Benitez likes to rotate so he is unlikely to play in all of the fixtures, however, with Manchester United, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Everton to come in the Premier League, plus two games between the Blues and the Europa League trophy, there are plenty of high-profile matches for Terry to put forward a strong argument.

He got off to a good start by helping Chelsea take a major step to qualifying for next season’s Champions League with a fairly comfortable victory over the Capital One Cup winners.

It took another Chelsea and England veteran to make the difference further up the pitch, as Frank Lampard came off the bench to set up Oscar for the first goal in the 43rd minute before scoring from the spot just before half-time to take his goal tally for the club to 201.

For Chelsea, it was a rare comfortable victory in what has been an inconsistent campaign.

Terry will have hopes, though, it is just the start of better things for him at Chelsea and England.